2005: taking stock*
Dec. 21st, 2005 04:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcWhat a year! Briefly, in review:
January: After ringing in the new year at a dance party, we got back into the swing of work things and puttered through the month.I found out I didn't get the job in Dublin, which was more shocking than disappointing (how could anyone not want Me?). Bear Essentials IX was looming for February, so there was a lot of committee work to be done for that too. Having had a meltdown between Xmas and New Year's Eve, we also started working on a timetable for our move to Soviet Canuckistan. My connection to Australia had always been tenuous at best (here for a few months, then back and forth, then here), but this is when I slowly started inching my toes towards the Northern Hemisphere.
February: The month started with a wee in India to recruit students for our M Med programme. I'm still unpacking and finding meaning in that trip--and how overwhelmed I must've felt--to be so stoopid as to accept 300,000 rupees for someone's school fees. In bundles of cash. Then it was home, to getting![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
querrelle's medical sorted and our application for his Landed Immigrancy in the post to Canada. My birthday was quiet and lovely.
March: Mardi Gras should've been a blast, but I had to leave the day before the party because Ma was on life support. A fucking horrible 36 hours (from phone call to landing in NY), followed by 3 weeks of Doing the Right Thing for Ma and Da.querrelle was phenomenal. I went to NY hoping to get to say goodbye to Ma; I came back to OZ with $$ "so you and Max can go out to dinner for your wedding present." querrelle and I had started some couples therapy in January and we continued that as we saw fit. I don't understand why folks who've seen the benefits of therapy wait until everything's shattered to get support. I also started looking at job possibilities in Vancouver.
April: For Easter we popped over to NZ to seequerrelle sister Julia and her family. We rented a campervan, drove around the North Island a bit, and it was excellent. querrelle french-kissed a couple of goats, I snorted as much sulfurous air as lungs permit, we both grooved on Maori culture, and Julia made us both feel like family. Even after we nearly burned her house down. A couple of weeks later we received word from Canada that my application to sponsor querrelle had been approved, and that his Landed Immigrancy file was transferred to Sydney. 2 of the jobs for which I applied asked for references: each job had strengths and limitations, but either would be great for re-establishing my career au Canada.
May: However, one of the jobs extended an offer after 3 telephone interviews. The other didn't have a search committee in place to perhaps match it, so I accepted my current position. The base salary, combined with some sessional teaching, would be fine for getting us set up with a decent apartment etc. Even so, I took a salary cut of about $20k. But what price happiness, eh? We also were gatheringquerrelle's police clearances. By the end of May we were waiting on the Netherlands. We booked our flights for 18 August. I dropped a letter off to the Canuck Consulate in Sydney, advising I had a job offer, we had travel plans, and that we were only waiting on the Dutch certificate.
June:querrelle gave 2 months notice at work, in order to facilitate a smooth transition. So of course they squandered that time with bickering and vacillation. We received the Dutch certificate one day so I drove down to the Consulate and presented it in-person. At which point they asked for querrelle's passport because his application was complete--less than 4 months from when we sent it to Canada (27 February) to visa in hand (11 June)! I resigned towards the end of the month, citing Ma's poor health as a primary reason, with about 5 weeks notice.
July:querrelle had booked annual leave in July to take one last long bike trip across Oz, but a eejit knocked him down off the bike. The damage wasn't severe, but the ineptitude of the repair shop meant no trip--4 weeks to fix the feckin' thing! When it became apparent that the doofs with whom I worked were going to squander any handoff time for my role, I simply told them I'd leave earlier then. The last of many incidents where my forthrightedness left some jaws on the table. From the last week of July onwards, we were on holidays...unless you count the hours of organizing, packing, selling and giving away stuff. Maudit Christ!
August: The movers came in the second week, leaving us with Not Much. We put signs up to sell some shit, but were suprised when the nookie couch (complete with cum stains galore) was the first thing sold ("honey! she wants to buy the nookie couch! Is that ethical? How much should I ask?")! We also tried to make Augustmynumber1 fest, because we couldn't fit Marko in our bags. We threw ourselves a farewell party, which was fun and grand and a lovely send-off. Getting the last bits out, then shifting our gear to the airport hotel was bit of a pilaba: 6 32KG suitcases plus 4 carryons (2 briefcases, 2 carryon bags). To make it more fun, our departure date was the day I came off my P plate onto a full NSW motorcycle license. So we checked in for the flight, ran over to RTA in Botany, than on to the gate and boarded our flight (in business class, thanks to AC upgrade certs). Even so the flight sucks, especially the USA Customs at midnight bit in HNL, but we made it. In that first week I did all my UBC admin stuff, we found an apartment for 01 September, organized cable and mobile services and then jetted off to London, Andorra and Barcelona. Because we insanely thought another 12 hours of flying made perfect sense!
September: Our time in Barcelona was cut short by the death of my dear Aunt Brenda. whom I still miss a lot. But I started work as well, and all things considered it seemed like a good place and a decent opportunity. My co-teacher, however, earned the moniker of The Wanker. Very quickly I was on the treadmill of life: work, work, home, sleep. And with the end of September came the end of the glorious sunshine and warm evenings...
October: The rains came. Worse than usual. Butquerrelle stuck around. Yay! We flew to NY and querrelle go to meet the parents. Everyone was great, it went better than I ever imagined. querrelle started his work search in earnest (I discouraged him until then, so he can get a bit of the Vangroovy thing happening). Teaching was great, my other work merely OK.
November: Some part-time work projects came along, both interesting and lucrative. So I started working pretty much non-stop from mid-November until the holidays. It's been years since I'd worked 20 days in a row, and it showed: poorquerrelle. In fact, November is mostly a blur...
December: Teaching ended with a bang: the Wanker proved himself wholly unethical and I nailed him for it--go me. The other p/t work get me very busy however.querrelle and I had our first Canadian "big night out", which was awesome! He's also found some strong job leads; fingers crossed the next month brings him a great role (he is, after all, great). And I'm about to close down my office until January, to make the most out of the holiday season!
*this is stream of consciousness, and not at all extrapolated from a review of my 'blog this year. So there.
January: After ringing in the new year at a dance party, we got back into the swing of work things and puttered through the month.I found out I didn't get the job in Dublin, which was more shocking than disappointing (how could anyone not want Me?). Bear Essentials IX was looming for February, so there was a lot of committee work to be done for that too. Having had a meltdown between Xmas and New Year's Eve, we also started working on a timetable for our move to Soviet Canuckistan. My connection to Australia had always been tenuous at best (here for a few months, then back and forth, then here), but this is when I slowly started inching my toes towards the Northern Hemisphere.
February: The month started with a wee in India to recruit students for our M Med programme. I'm still unpacking and finding meaning in that trip--and how overwhelmed I must've felt--to be so stoopid as to accept 300,000 rupees for someone's school fees. In bundles of cash. Then it was home, to getting
querrelle's medical sorted and our application for his Landed Immigrancy in the post to Canada. My birthday was quiet and lovely.March: Mardi Gras should've been a blast, but I had to leave the day before the party because Ma was on life support. A fucking horrible 36 hours (from phone call to landing in NY), followed by 3 weeks of Doing the Right Thing for Ma and Da.
querrelle was phenomenal. I went to NY hoping to get to say goodbye to Ma; I came back to OZ with $$ "so you and Max can go out to dinner for your wedding present." querrelle and I had started some couples therapy in January and we continued that as we saw fit. I don't understand why folks who've seen the benefits of therapy wait until everything's shattered to get support. I also started looking at job possibilities in Vancouver.April: For Easter we popped over to NZ to see
querrelle sister Julia and her family. We rented a campervan, drove around the North Island a bit, and it was excellent. querrelle french-kissed a couple of goats, I snorted as much sulfurous air as lungs permit, we both grooved on Maori culture, and Julia made us both feel like family. Even after we nearly burned her house down. A couple of weeks later we received word from Canada that my application to sponsor querrelle had been approved, and that his Landed Immigrancy file was transferred to Sydney. 2 of the jobs for which I applied asked for references: each job had strengths and limitations, but either would be great for re-establishing my career au Canada.May: However, one of the jobs extended an offer after 3 telephone interviews. The other didn't have a search committee in place to perhaps match it, so I accepted my current position. The base salary, combined with some sessional teaching, would be fine for getting us set up with a decent apartment etc. Even so, I took a salary cut of about $20k. But what price happiness, eh? We also were gathering
querrelle's police clearances. By the end of May we were waiting on the Netherlands. We booked our flights for 18 August. I dropped a letter off to the Canuck Consulate in Sydney, advising I had a job offer, we had travel plans, and that we were only waiting on the Dutch certificate.June:
querrelle gave 2 months notice at work, in order to facilitate a smooth transition. So of course they squandered that time with bickering and vacillation. We received the Dutch certificate one day so I drove down to the Consulate and presented it in-person. At which point they asked for querrelle's passport because his application was complete--less than 4 months from when we sent it to Canada (27 February) to visa in hand (11 June)! I resigned towards the end of the month, citing Ma's poor health as a primary reason, with about 5 weeks notice. July:
querrelle had booked annual leave in July to take one last long bike trip across Oz, but a eejit knocked him down off the bike. The damage wasn't severe, but the ineptitude of the repair shop meant no trip--4 weeks to fix the feckin' thing! When it became apparent that the doofs with whom I worked were going to squander any handoff time for my role, I simply told them I'd leave earlier then. The last of many incidents where my forthrightedness left some jaws on the table. From the last week of July onwards, we were on holidays...unless you count the hours of organizing, packing, selling and giving away stuff. Maudit Christ! August: The movers came in the second week, leaving us with Not Much. We put signs up to sell some shit, but were suprised when the nookie couch (complete with cum stains galore) was the first thing sold ("honey! she wants to buy the nookie couch! Is that ethical? How much should I ask?")! We also tried to make August
mynumber1 fest, because we couldn't fit Marko in our bags. We threw ourselves a farewell party, which was fun and grand and a lovely send-off. Getting the last bits out, then shifting our gear to the airport hotel was bit of a pilaba: 6 32KG suitcases plus 4 carryons (2 briefcases, 2 carryon bags). To make it more fun, our departure date was the day I came off my P plate onto a full NSW motorcycle license. So we checked in for the flight, ran over to RTA in Botany, than on to the gate and boarded our flight (in business class, thanks to AC upgrade certs). Even so the flight sucks, especially the USA Customs at midnight bit in HNL, but we made it. In that first week I did all my UBC admin stuff, we found an apartment for 01 September, organized cable and mobile services and then jetted off to London, Andorra and Barcelona. Because we insanely thought another 12 hours of flying made perfect sense!September: Our time in Barcelona was cut short by the death of my dear Aunt Brenda. whom I still miss a lot. But I started work as well, and all things considered it seemed like a good place and a decent opportunity. My co-teacher, however, earned the moniker of The Wanker. Very quickly I was on the treadmill of life: work, work, home, sleep. And with the end of September came the end of the glorious sunshine and warm evenings...
October: The rains came. Worse than usual. But
querrelle stuck around. Yay! We flew to NY and querrelle go to meet the parents. Everyone was great, it went better than I ever imagined. querrelle started his work search in earnest (I discouraged him until then, so he can get a bit of the Vangroovy thing happening). Teaching was great, my other work merely OK. November: Some part-time work projects came along, both interesting and lucrative. So I started working pretty much non-stop from mid-November until the holidays. It's been years since I'd worked 20 days in a row, and it showed: poor
querrelle. In fact, November is mostly a blur...December: Teaching ended with a bang: the Wanker proved himself wholly unethical and I nailed him for it--go me. The other p/t work get me very busy however.
querrelle and I had our first Canadian "big night out", which was awesome! He's also found some strong job leads; fingers crossed the next month brings him a great role (he is, after all, great). And I'm about to close down my office until January, to make the most out of the holiday season!*this is stream of consciousness, and not at all extrapolated from a review of my 'blog this year. So there.
